Keep the time in style with a $13 Bewell wooden watch

Amazon is offering a couple different colors of the Bewell Lightweight Vintage Wooden Watch for $12.99. Just clip the 50% off coupon located below the price to get in on this deal.

This watch received an average of 4.1 out of 5 stars from 195 customer reviews. It’s made of wood and has Roman numeral scales, luminous pointers, and Japanese movement. The battery will last up to 36 months and the adjustable band closes via a folding clasp.

This watch is sure to spark up some conversations. It’s unique, but not flashy, and it’ll work with your wardrobe whether you’re dressed casually or in a suit. It also comes packaged in a wood box, so you could totally give this as a gift for Father’s Day.

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The $7 CyberPower six-outlet wall tap can make hidden plugs accessible again

Use every outlet you have. Even the annoying inaccessible ones.

The CyberPower six-outlet swivel grounded wall tap is only $6.78 on Amazon. This wall tap was selling as high as $13 last year and has been selling for around $9 for most of this year. The drop to $6.78 is the lowest we’ve ever seen.

This simple device turns two grounded wall outlets into six outlets. Not only that, but the outlets can swivel up to 90 degrees. You should get one of these for that outlet behind your couch or desk where you can’t plug anything in straight on. This way you can plug in from a side angle and plug in three times as much stuff. The case is designed to be impact-resistant for extended durability. Users give it 4.3 stars based on 67 reviews.

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Best DualShock 4 Controller Charging Docks for PS4 in 2018

• Best Overall
• Best Third-party
• Best on a budget

Best Overall

PowerA DualShock 4 Controller Charging Station

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The PowerA DualShock 4 Controller Charging Station is the only officially licensed charging dock for your PlayStation 4 controllers. It works off of AC adapters to make it easy to plug your controllers in and get a charge without any additional hassle. With a design that makes it easy to plug in your controllers and doesn’t take up much room, this dock fits easily onto an entertainment system. From the design to the size, this dock makes it easy to keep your controllers charged and ready for you when it’s time to game. Ringing in at only $19, it’s not gonna hurt you too much when you put the cash into this charging station.

Bottom line: The PowerA DualShock 4 Controller Charging Station is the officially licensed charge dock, which means it’s the dock that you can trust with the solemn duty of charging your controllers. Additionally, it’s a small dock that is easy to fit into even a crowded entertainment system.

One more thing: This charging dock can charge up to two DualShock 4 controllers at the same time.

Why the PowerA DualShock 4 Controller Charging Station is the best

PowerA DualShock 4 Controller Charging Station makes it easy to keep your controllers stored and charged for when you need them.

There are plenty of great reasons that this controller dock is the best, and they all combine to deliver a stellar product. The design means that you can slot your controllers directly down and into the cradle, which means that properly plugging your DualShock 4 controller in is a breeze. You’ll hear an audible click when you plug your controllers in, as well as seeing your controller light up orange while charging. That same design also takes up as little room as possible.

Since you may well already have an overcrowded entertainment center, this means that it won’t be taking up too much room. It’s designed so that you don’t have to think about what you’re doing; just drop your controller in and go about your day. When you plug in your controller, you’ll hear an audible click and see the lightbar on the back of controller glow yellow to indicate a good connection While many other docks have a few more features, they don’t combine to form the excellent product that PowerA has delivered.

Best Third Party

Nyko Charge Base – PS4

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When it comes to third-party accessories, Nyko is well-known for delivering quality products that work exceedingly well. Its DualShock 4 charging dock is no exception to that either. The dock is small and easy to drop a controller into when it’s time to charge, and, like the official DualShock 4 Controller Dock, it can easily handle both of your controllers at the same time. It’s got a low profile design that you set your controller into when it’s time to charge, meaning that it’s easy to settle just about anywhere on your entertainment center. While it is a bit pricier than some of the other options, it does its job very well, so it’s worth it. The downside to this controller charging base is it’s the most expensive of the three, coming in at $25

Bottom line: Nyko’s charge dock is easy to use, can hold two controllers at once and has a low profile design that makes it easy to fit just about anywhere.

One more thing: When your controller is done charging, you’ll see an indicator light go out, letting you know that your controller is good to go for hours of gameplay.

Best on a budget

BEBONCOOL Charging Station for PlayStation 4

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When it comes to finding great accessories that fit into your budget, things can be a bit difficult. Thankfully, this controller dock is both easy to use and affordable, even when you don’t have much money to spare. The BEBONCOOL Charging dock for PlayStation 4 can easily handle two controllers at once and lets you easily remove and insert them into the charging dock. Indicator lights will let you know that your controller is charging and when it’s done charging, it will turn green. This charging station isn’t quite as sturdy as some of its competitors, but for just $15, it’s a solid purchase.

Bottom line: The BEBONCOOL Charging dock delivers a great product without a steep price tag. It can charge two controllers at once, has convenient LED indicators, and is easy to fit in your crowded entertainment center.

One more thing: The indicator lights will shine red when charging and then switch to green when your controller is fully charged.

Conclusion

There are plenty of charging docks that are available for your DualShock 4 controllers, and, thankfully, many of them are fantastic at their jobs. While they often have similar features and functions, there are definitely some docks that work better than others. That’s why we recommend the PowerA DualShock 4 Controller Charging Station. It offers all of the features that you might want, as well as a design that makes it easy to pop your controllers in and out of without any frustration. It’s affordable, easy to use, and the officially licensed PlayStation 4 charging dock for DualShock 4 Controllers. All of these things combine to deliver a stellar dock that can get the job done without any issues in the process.

Best Overall

PowerA DualShock 4 Controller Charging Station

See at Amazon

The PowerA DualShock 4 Controller Charging Station is the only officially licensed charging dock for your PlayStation 4 controllers. It works off of AC adapters to make it easy to plug your controllers in and get a charge without any additional hassle. With a design that makes it easy to plug in your controllers and one that doesn’t take up much room, this dock fits easily onto an entertainment system. From the design to the size, this dock makes it easy to keep your controllers charged and ready for you when it’s time to game.

Bottom line: The PowerA DualShock 4 Controller Charging Station is the officially licensed charge dock, which means it’s the dock that you can trust with the solemn duty of charging your controllers. Additionally, it’s a small dock that is easy to fit into even a crowded entertainment system.

One more thing: This charging dock can charge up to two DualShock 4 controllers at the same time.

Updated April 2018: We’ve updated this post with a new budget controller and prices for the other controllers as well.

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

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This is an early look at Gmail’s new design for desktop

Gmail for the modern era.

In the “coming weeks”, Google will introduce a huge redesign for Gmail. Something along these lines is long overdue, and thanks to recently shared screenshots, we now have an early glimpse at what Gmail’s new desktop interface will look like.

Obtained by The Verge, these screenshots reveal that Gmail’s new aesthetic lines up nicely with the design language found in a lot of Google’s other apps. Corners are rounded, there’s a hamburger menu in the top left next to a fresh Gmail logo, and the red “Compose” button has been replaced with a white, circular one with a colorful “+” icon.

Like we already caught wind of, the images also showcase Gmail’s new Snooze functionality that allows you to dismiss emails from your inbox for a certain period of time — something that was first made popular with Inbox back in 2014.

One thing shown that we weren’t previously expecting is a new sidebar found on the far right. This allows you to quickly open Google Calendar, Keep, and Tasks without having to leave Gmail, and it would appear that you’ll be able to add additional apps to the sidebar as well.

Last but not least, Google’s added three layout views that’ll allow you to change how your mail is displayed. The default setup will showcase things like photos, documents, and other items that are attached to message, a comfortable option will remove these attachment highlights, and compact mode will show more emails on your screen at once.

It’ll still be some time before these changes make their way to all Gmail users, but seeing as how Google I/O is right around the corner, it’s safe to assume we could get more details on Gmail’s updated look during the upcoming developer conference.

A new Gmail design is launching ‘in the coming weeks’ with several fresh features

Researchers say some Android phone makers hide missed updates

A number of Android phones have a tendency to skip the occasional security patch while making it appear that the device is fully up to date, Wired reports. Researchers with Security Research Labs (SRL) looked into 1,200 phones from manufacturers like Google, Samsung, Sony, Nokia, Huawei, Motorola, LG, HTC, ZTE and TCL and found that there’s often a gap between what the phones say have been updated and what patches have actually been installed. “It’s small for some devices and pretty significant for others,” SRL founder Karsten Nohl told Wired.

Nohl and researcher Jakob Lell found that even companies like Sony and Samsung missed a patch every now and then, but it wasn’t consistent across models. For example, Samsung’s 2016 J5 accurately reported what was and wasn’t installed, but its 2016 J3 said all patches were up to date when 12 weren’t actually installed.

While Sony and Samsung phones were found to have missed few patches, on average, devices made by TCL and ZTE had on average four or more missed updates they claimed to have installed. HTC, Huawei, LG and Motorola all had between three and four skipped patches while Xiaomi, OnePlus and Nokia skipped, on average, between one and three security updates. SRL notes that the chips the phones used could be part of the problem. Those with Samsung processors skipped over few patches while models using MediaTek chips missed almost 10 patches, on average. “The lesson is that if you go for a cheaper device, you end up in a less well maintained part to this ecosystem,” said Nohl.

Due to these findings, SRL has updated its SnoopSnitch app, allowing Android phone users to get an accurate breakdown of which updates have and haven’t been installed.

A Google spokesperson sent us the following statement.

“We would like to thank Karsten Nohl and Jakob Kell for their continued efforts to reinforce the security of the Android ecosystem. We’re working with them to improve their detection mechanisms to account for situations where a device uses an alternate security update instead of the Google suggested security update.

Security updates are one of many layers used to protect Android devices and users. Built-in platform protections, such as application sandboxing, and security services, such as Google Play Protect, are just as important. These layers of security—combined with the tremendous diversity of the Android ecosystem—contribute to the researchers’ conclusions that remote exploitation of Android devices remains challenging.”

It’s good to keep in mind that while these skipped security updates introduce vulnerabilities, it doesn’t mean they have been or can easily be exploited. And patches aren’t the only Android security feature — you can read more about that here.

Via: The Verge

Spotify’s latest acquisition might help fix its royalty problem

Spotify announced today that it has purchased Loudr, a San Francisco-based company whose services, according to Spotify, “make it easy for content creators, aggregators and digital music services to identify, track and pay royalties to music publishers.” Loudr describes its technology as “big data for music rights” and it uses algorithms to connect sound recordings to compositions. For music publishers, it can match their catalog to usage and make sure they’re getting the proper amount of royalties.

This is a useful acquisition for Spotify which has struggled with licensing and adequate payments in the past. Currently, the company faces a $1.6 billion lawsuit filed by Wixen Music Publishing. In 2016, Spotify struck an agreement with the National Music Publishers Association to pay $21 million for previously unpaid royalties. And last July, Spotify was hit with two lawsuits over royalty disputes after settling a class action suit for $43.5 million in May.

Spotify has tried to do better when it comes to accurately tracking and paying royalties. It acquired Mediachain for that purpose last year, a company that manages music ownership information through a blockchain-secured database. It also began limiting its free streaming option.

Spotify said the Loudr team will join its New York offices. “What Loudr has built is more than just a smart and easy way for artists to obtain mechanical licenses; it’s true music industry innovation,” Adam Parness, Spotify’s global head of publishing, said in a statement.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Spotify